Counter stacker



Feb. 4, 1958 A. w. ASCANI 2,322,079

COUNTER STACKER Filed Jan. 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVJENTOR ALBERT w. ASCANI I f I 37 B-Y ATTORNEYS A. W. ASCANI COUNTER STACKER Feb. 4, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 4, 1957 ATTORNEYS Feb. 4, 1958 I A. w. ASCANI 1 2,822,079

- COUNTER STACKER Filed Jan. 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR U 2 AL BERT W.ASCAN| ATTORNEYS Feb. 4, 1958 A. w. ASCANI 2,822,079

' COUNTER STACKER Filed Jan. 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Q ALBERT W. ASCANI ATTORNEYS United States Patent COUNTER STACKER Albert W. Ascani, Beloit,Wis.

Application January 4, 1957, Serial No. 632,573

i 4 Claims. (Cl. 19 3- 5224 This inventionappertains to box counters and stackers and, more particularly, to a new and novel counter stacker for folded boxes and the like. r

" ln the paper making industry and particularly in making folded boxes, theboxes come oflf a machine, usually a gluer and folder machine, and they must be stacked inbundles and then tied for shipment. It is also necessary to count the individual boxes andalso the number of. bundles shipped. Therefore, units for counting and stacking the bundles have been built and they usually include a work table surface and some sort of mechanicaf'pusher plate to push the bundles or'boxes oif one end of the machine and to deliver the same to the person doing the tying or bundling. This means that the pusher plate must travel, first inone direction'to deliver the bundles and then back in an opposite direction and stop until a given number of boxes have been stacked to form the next bundle. Complicated mechanisms, such as electric solenoids, aircylinders, hydraulic means, etc, have been resorted to for reversing the pusher plate to give this backward and forward motion. It would, of course, be advantageous to provide means for moving the pusher plate first in one'direction to deliver the bundles and then back in the opposite direction without disturbing the boxes being stacked on the table surface and then when the proper number of boxes have been stacked to automatically movethat bundle to the person doing the tying and bundling. As far as is known, no such means has ever been successfully built.

Therefore, it is a primary object of my present invention to provide a counter-stacker in which the motor drives a chain conveyor or the like in 'one direction only to give the pusher plate a backward and forward motion. Another"important object ofmy present invention is to provide a counter stacker in which the pusher plate is attached to the chain links and moves froin'one end of the machine to the other, then down andback underthe machine where it is returned to its original upright position to receive another bundle or stack thus delivering Cine stack of boxes to the person tying the bundles-and moving back without disturbing the boxes being stacked forthe' next bundle. i i p A salient'feature ofmy invention resides in the-fact that the chain is driven in one directiononly and the pusher plate. moves vertically at each end of the machine through a trolley, which trolley'is free of the chain'drive and nioves'backwards and forwards'only. "Another object of my invention is to provide a work table surface having'a'n elongated slot thereon in which travels'the pusher pla-teand'said slot being covered by a novel belt-like conveyor, thus preventing the boxes from falling into the slot andbecoming tangled in the working mechanism of themachine. r "Still another object of my present invention is to'providewa counter stacker which may be easily placed at the'JJ utIet'end of the; gluer. folder'to receive. the folded lioxes u'ntil -andesiredi number-have zbeen stacked -;in a

2,822,079 Patented Feb. 4, 1958 "ice bundle and then to move the bundle otf one end of the machine and also providing means for counting each movement of the pusher plate, thereby counting the bundles moved from the machine.

A further object of my present invention is to adap my novel principle so as to provide a counter stacker in which a bundle may be delivered, first to one end of the machine and then another bundle may be delivered to the other end of the machine, thus enabling two:

persons to tie and bundle.

A still further object of my invention is to provideja relatively simple, practical and reliable constructionthat is economical to manufacture, easy to assemble and po tive in its operation.

With the above and other objects in view, which ,will. more readily appear as the nature of the invention. is

better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein-I after more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of my invention.

is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my novel counter.

stacker showing the pusher plate in position to move a bundle from one end of the machine to the other end of the machine;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the machine shown in Figure l of the drawings, the section being taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 3 of the drawings, looking in the direction of the arrows, and illustrating by dotted lines, the movement of the pusher platefas it moves a bundle from one end of the machine to the other and back in position to move another bundle.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view through my machine, the section being taken on-the line 3'-3, of,

Figure 2 of the drawings, looking in the directiom of the arrows, and showing further details in my novel one" direction drive; g

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal section taken on. the line 44 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows, certain other parts being broken away and in section to illustrate further details in the trolley construction; 1

Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to Fig ure 2 of the drawings but illustrating a preferred modified form of the machine when it is desired to move stacks off both ends of the machine and is utilized, in particular, when the folded boxes come off the box making machine at a faster rate than one person can bundle andtie the same.

Referring now to the drawings in detail lar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter C generally indi cates one type of my improved counter stacker and the same includes, broadly, a substantially rectangular shaped outer casing or cabinet 10 having a top work surface 11, sides 12,and 13and ends 14 and 15. I also provide. a series of rollers 16 at each lower corner of the casing10 so that the unit C may be easily moved into position when needed. The work table surface 11 is provided with an enlarged central longitudinal opening 17 and in this opening, the pusher plate 18 is fitted for movement from one.

wherein simivertical guide plates 21 for the table surface 11 against which the boxes may be moved to make a straight stack and this plate 21 may be provided in pairs or may be used singularly, as shown, to be positioned on either side 12 or 13 of the unit. For this purpose, (note in particular Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings), to hold the plate 21 in position, I provide a supporting frame including a pair of brace end tubes 22, each of which is provided with an upright portion 23, welded or otherwise secured to the plate 21 and a U-shaped portion 24. The U-shaped portion 24 has an elongated lower horizontal leg 25 which extends into an opening or bearing surface 26 provided in the sides 12 and 13. Obviously, by moving the brace tubes 22 backwards and forwards, the plate 21 may be adjusted to any length or width of box and in order to secure the plate and brace members in place, I provide lock nuts or screws 27 which clamp against the legs 25, as shown. In order to give further rigidity to the supporting frame and tubes 22, I join these tubes with a longitudinal length of tube 28. I also may provide an inclined guide member 29 at one end of the machine to receive the bundle B as it is moved from the machine.

While I have not shown any means for counting the individual boxes as they are fed to the machine, it should be noted that this counting is done on the outlet end of the folder gluer or other type of box making machine, but I do provide a counter 30 which counts one revolution of the pusher plate 18 by any desired means (not shown) and thus, the number of bundles fed off the end 29 of the machine may be easily counted. It should also be mentioned that as the gluer folder or other type of box making machine (not shown) counts a pre-determined amount of boxes, it actuates a switch which starts the motor M of my novel counter stacker in motion and this motor is also provided with automatic means to stop the motor when the pusher plate reaches the full line position of Figures 1, 2 and 3. I may, in addition, provide a manual switch 31 for starting and stopping the machine, if desired.

In order to lend strength and rigidity to the casing or cabinet 10, I provide an inner frame of angle members welded or otherwise secured together at their respective corners and this inner frame-work includes, spaced pairs of upper and lower longitudinal angle members 32 and 33, spaced pairs of upper and lower transverse end angle members 34 and 35 and vertical angle members 36 at each corner.

A salient feature of my present invention resides in the means for moving the pusher plate 18 from one end 14 of my machine (note Figure 2) in the direction of the arrows to the other end 15 of the machine and then to lower the same and move it back again under the work table surface to the end 14 where it will be moved vertically upward to its original position. I accomplish this by a one directional drive from the motor M and in order to support the drive mechanism for accomplishing this purpose, I provide a pair of longitudinally extending depending plates 37 which are positioned beneath the top work surface 11 and on either side of the enlarged opening 17. I also provide spaced longitudinally extending parallel pairs of angle irons 38 and 39 and the upper angle irons 39 are each secured to a respective depending plate 37 at the lower edge thereof, as shown.

I further provide spaced longitudinally extending pairs of parallel angle irons 40 and 41 which are secured to the sides 12 and 13 respectively. The upper ends of the depending plates 37 are formed as tracks 42 and these tracks are in a spaced parallel relation to receive the rollers 43 of a freely movable trolley 44. The trolley 44 includes the parallel truck members 45 to which the rollers are fastened and these trucks also carry therebetween, a pair of depending guide plates 46 and 47 respectively. It should be noted that these guide plates 46 and 47 terminate above the open bottom 48 of the machine and are firmly secured together by means of the metal strap 49 at their lower ends. These plates 46 and 47 are spaced one from the other sufliciently to slidably receive the pusher plate 18 and thus aid in holding the pusher plate in an upright position. The open bottom 48 of my novel unit provides means whereby the inner machine parts may be easily repaired merely by jacking up one end of the unit. Also, if desired, I may removably mount the ends 14 and 15.

From the description thus far, it can be seen that the trolley 44 and the depending guide plates 46 and 47 carried by the trolley are freely movable back and forth in the tracks 42 and, in order to drive the pusher plate 18 and to carry the trolley from one end 14 of the machine to the other end 15, I provide a pair of spaced longitudinally extending conveyor chains 50 and 51, respectively, and each chain is supported by and trained about four sprockets 52, 53, 54 and 55 and each sprocket is splined to a freely rotatable shaft 56, 57, 58 and 59, respectively. Obviously, these shafts are provided in pairs, one for each chain 50 and 51 and are disposed in suitable bearings 60 mounted on the longitudinally extending pairs of angle irons 38, 39 and 40, respectively.

Now, in order to drive the chains 50 and 51 simultaneously and in the same direction, I provide a motor M which is in direct drive with a shaft 61 upon which is secured a drive sprocket 62. Mounted adjacent the end 14 of the unit and extending transversely therewith, from one side of the machine to the other is a driven shaft 63 and this driven shaft has three sprockets 64, 65 and 66 secured thereto and two of these sprockets 65 and 66 are in alignment with sprockets 67 and 68 which are mounted on the shafts 59 and are utilized to drive the chain sprockets 55. Therefore, in order to turn shaft 63, I provide a chain belt or the like 69 and in order to turn shafts 59, I provide chain belts 70 to connect the sprockets 65 and 68, 66 and 67, respectively. Thus, it can be seen that the chain conveyors 50 and 51 are driven simultaneously in one direction as shown by the arrows (Figure 2 of the drawings). In order to mount the pusher plate 18 in direct drive connection with the chain conveyors 50 and 51, I provide a pair of blocks 71 and these blocks are aligned and are firmly secured to the respective links of each chain 50 and 51.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings and noting that both ends of the pusher plate 18 are connected in the same manner to the respective conveyor chains 50 and 51 and are of the same construction, it is deemed necessary to describe the connection of one end only. Therefore, the block 71 is secured to links 72 and 73, respectively, of the chain 51 and will, therefore, be carried along with the chain conveyor. Firmly secured at each end of the plate 18 is a supporting member 74 which includes a rounded bearing surface 75 extending into the block 71 and this bearing surface is in the form of a stub axle or the like and is freely turnable within the block 71. Thus, (referring more particularly to Figure 2), it can be seen that when the chain conveyors 50 and 51 are driven in one direction simultaneously, the blocks 71 and the pusher plate 18 will be carried along therewith and the trolley 44 and its depending guide plates 46 and 47 will also be moved toward the end 15 of the unit. When the pusher plate 18 approaches the end 15 and reaches the extreme end 20 of the opening 17, the blocks 71 will be carried downward and the pusher plate 18 will be retracked and slide between the guide plates 46 and 47. Obviously, the trolley 44 will be stopped in its extreme dotted line position (Figure 2) adjacent the end 15 of the machine and as the chain conveyor continues to move, the blocks 71 will be conveyed around the lower sprockets 52 and moved back towards the end 14 of the machine with the pusher plate 18 in its extreme lowered position beneath the work table surface 11 and the trolley 44 will start to move back in its tracks toward its full line position of Figure 2. As the blocks 71 move upwardly, the pusher plate 18 will move upward between the guide plates 46 and 47 as illustrated by the arrows in Figure 2 of the drawings.

another bundle will be stacked on the table surfaceand the pusher plate 18 will move back beneath this bundle to move vertically upwardly in a positionto push the second bundle off the machine.

In order to prevent the individual boxes in the bundle B; particularly the bottom box, from jamming in theopening 17 and getting into the working mechanism of the machine, I provide a flexible covering 76 in the form of a belt-like conveyor which is trained over four elongated rollers 77 and each end 78 of this belt-like cover 76 (note particularly Figure 4) is fastened on either side of the trolley 44 to the upper surface of the guide plates 46 and 47 and moves backward and forward with the trolley.

From the foregoing, it is obvious that I have provided a novel counter stacker C that will receive the counted boxes from the box making machine, deliver the desired number of boxes in the bundle B to the person doing the tying and bundling and at the same time, allow the second bundle to be formed without disturbing the boxes in the second bundle. All of this being accomplished with a motor and conveyor drive in one direction only without the need of reversing the motor or employing elaborate reversing mechanisms to bring the pusher plate back to its operative position.

In some instances, however, the folded boxes may come off of the folder gluer machine at such a rapid rate that one person doing the tying and bundling cannot keep up with the supply. To meet this situation, I provide a slightly modified drive means so that the pusher plate 18 will push a bundle B, first off the end 15 of the machine and then deliver the second bundle to the other end 14 of the machine. This means that the pusher plate 18 will not move below the work table 11. In this unit, of course, I provide an additional guide 29 at the end 14 to receive the second bundle and deliver the same to the second person doing the tying.

However, the principle of operation and the one directional drive is the same as that form shown in Figures 1 to 6 and the structure of the trolley 44, work table 11, guide plate 21, cabinet 10, etc. are the same. Due to the fact that it is not desired, in this form of the invention, to move the pusher plate 18 below the table surface 11, the following changes should be made. Belt 76 may be shortened as at 76', the lower sprockets 52 and 55 and their respective shafts 58 and 59 are removed and the chain conveyors 50 and 51 are shortened as at 50' and trained about the pairs of sprockets 53 and 54' only. The pusher plate 18 is secured to the respective chain conveyors 50 and 51 in the same manner as previously described and the trolley 44 is of similar construction except that the guide plates 46 and 47 may be shortened somewhat as shown by the numerals 46' and 47. If desired, I may also secure a roller 80 to the lower end of the pusher plate 18 so that it will contact a guide rail 81 when the pusher plate is in its lower position, thus, tending to eliminate sag in the chain conveyors 50 and 51'. The motor M and chain drive are similar in that chain 82 drives chain 83 which drives the shaft 56 carrying the sprocket 54'.

In the operation of this machine, the boxes are stacked in a bundle B centrally of the machine on work table surface 11 and the pusher plate 18 moves in the direction of the arrows from the end 14 to the end 15 of the machine and delivers the bundle B 'oif the guide 29. While the bundle B is being delivered off the end 15 of the machine, the boxes are again being stacked in another bundle and as pusher plate 18 is guided to its lower dotted line position, it will move back in the direction of the arrows towards the end 14 and pushes this second bundle off the guide 29' and, obviously, as the second bundle is new being delivered to the end 14, a third bundle is being s'tackedand the cycle is repeated.

From the foregoing, it is believed that the featuresand advantages of my invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and it will, of course, be understood thatchanges in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departingpfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

l. A counter stacker for receiving articles to be stacked and deiivering a bundle to a person bundling and tying the same including, a rectangular cabinet having top, side and end walls, said top wall comprising a work table surface for receiving the stacked articles and having an enlarged longitudinal opening therein terminating adjacent said end walls, a trolley extending transversely across said opening mounted on spaced parallel tracks arranged longitudinally in said cabinet adjacent the under surface of said work table, depending spaced vertical guide plates carried by said trolley, a vertical pusher plate slidably received between said guide plates, one directional drive means operatively connected to the lower end of said pusher plate and adapted to move and support said pusher plate first above the table surface in one direction and then below the table surface in another direction, and a motor drive operatively connected to said drive means.

2. A counter stacker for receiving articles to be stacked and delivering a bundle to a person bundling and tying the same including, a rectangular cabinet having top, side and end walls, said top wall comprising a work table surface for receiving the stacked articles and having an enlarged longitudinal opening therein terminating adjacent said end walls, a freely movable trolley extending transversely across said opening mounted on spaced parallel tracks arranged longitudinally in said cabinet adjacent the under surface of said work table, depending spaced vertical guide plates carried by said trolley, a vertical pusher plate slidably received between said guide plates, a pair of identical endless chain conveyors mounted in said cabinet in spaced parallel relation below said work surface and below said trolley, pairs of sprocket wheels for driving said chain conveyors, a pair of aligned blocks each mounted on a respective chain conveyor, a stub axle projecting laterally on each side of said pusher plate adjacent the lower end thereof, each axle being received in a bearing surface of a respective block, and means for driving said chain conveyors simultaneously in one direc tion only whereby said pusher plate will project above the work table surface in one direction and below said work table surface in another direction.

3. A counter stacker for receiving articles to be stacked and delivering a bundle alternately to persons bundling and tying the same including, a rectangular cabinet having top, side and end walls, said top wall comprising a work table surface for receiving the stacked articles and having an enlarged longitudinal opening therein terminating adjacent said end walls, a trolley extending transversely across said opening mounted on spaced parallel tracks arranged longitudinally in said cabinet adjacent the under surface of said work table, depending spaced vertical guide plates carried by said trolley, a vertical pusher plate slidably received between said guide plates, one directional drive means operatively connected to the lower end of said pusher plate and being so constructed and arranged to move and support said pusher plate first in an extreme elevated position above the table surface in one direction and then in a lower elevated position above the table surface in another direction, and a motor drive operatively connected to said drive means.

4. A counter stacker for receiving articles to be stacked and delivering a bundle to a person bundling and tying the same including, a rectangular cabinet having top, side and end walls, said top wall comprising a work table surface for receiving the stacked articles and having an enlarged longitudinal opening therein terminating adjacent 7 said end walls, a trolley extending transversely across said opening mounted on spaced parallel tracks arranged longitudinally in said cabinet adjacent the under surface of said work table, depending spaced vertical guide plates carried by said trolley, a vertical pusher plate slidably received between said guide plates, one directional drive means operatively connected to the lower end of said pusher plate and being so constructed and arranged to move and support said pusher plate first in one direction References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Burke et al. Mar. 15, 1921 Fay July 20, 1954 

